MPs being burgled is nothing new – 10 incidents since 2000

Water and Sanitation Minister Nomvula Mokonyane was robbed in her hotel room in Mthatha.

Let’s not forget the break-in at the office of the Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng.

Over the years several cabinet ministers and top officials also made the news when they fell victim to crime. Here are just ten examples:

1. 2000 – News surfaced that a man‚ believed to be mentally unstable‚ gained access to former President Thabo Mbeki’s official residence in Cape Town. He managed to stay at the presidential pad for about four days and helped himself to food and drink. He was arrested in a bedroom and it emerged that he gained access to the house by breaking a window. However officials indicated that he failed to gain access the president’s private quarters.

2. 2003 – The then Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel‚ Education Minister Kader Asmal and Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Aziz Pahad had computers‚ cameras and even cutlery stolen from their homes in the government security residential compound in Bryntirion. Manuel and Asmal shared a home while Pahad lived next door. At the time the ministers were said to be livid.

3. 2006 – Former Correctional Service Minister Ngconde Balfour’s house in Cape Town was targeted. At the time police spokesman Vish Naidu was quoted as saying that that cellphones and electrical appliances went missing.

4. 2008 – Intruders broke into IFP leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi’s house in Ulundi. The Sowetan reported‚ at the time‚ that valuables worth more than R100 000 were taken.

5. 2010 – When Fikile Mbalula was the deputy minister of police‚ robbers broke into his ministerial home in Waterkloof‚ Pretoria. LCD televisions‚ a DStv decoder and a home theatre system were taken. Officials from the Department of Public Works made the discovery. At the time Mbalula’s spokesman Paena Galane said only his belongings were moved to the house and he was yet to move in. “Before the deputy minister could move into the house the South African Police Service had to do a security evaluation report‚” Galane told the Sowetan at the time.”While they were finalising implementing recommendations of the report some of the stuff (belonging to Mbalula) was moved into the house.”

6. 2010 – Deputy Trade and Industry Minister Thandi Tobias-Poloko confirmed that she was about to upgrade her security system when someone jumped over the wall and “stole my garden chairs”.

7. 2012 – Even former Police Minister‚ Nathi Mthethwa‚ became a statistic when he held the position. A SAPS sergeant‚ tasked with guarding Mthethwa‚ took a laptop and a cellphone from his home in Cape Town. The items were then sold and the officer was arrested.

8. 2014 – Deputy Communications Minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams had her 65-inch plasma screen valued at about R35 000 and her laptop stolen from her 12-room double-storey home in Mthatha stolen. The Daily Dispatch spoke to Ndabeni-Abrahams’ sister Ayanda. “I opened the door using my keys and threw my purse on the couch. When I turned around ‚ I noticed the plasma was gone. I ran outside and screamed for my neighbours‚” Ayanda was quoted at the time.

9. 2015 – Minister of Justice and Correctional Services‚ Michael Masutha‚ moved to a hotel in Pretoria after his house in Waterkloof was burgled twice. The first break-in occurred in May. While criminals snatched his personal belongings including clothes‚ he locked himself in the bedroom the Sunday Times reported. Then‚ in July burglars struck again. This time they took his Samsung curved plasma TV. “We suspect they jumped over the wall because a blanket was placed over it. It took them five minutes to get in and take the TV‚” said his spokesman Mthunzi Mhaga. He confirmed that the minister moved to a hotel while addition security was being arranged. “This is the minister of justice and we cannot allow him to be placed in such a vulnerable position. We found him a hotel at a reasonable rate to stay in. And he will continue to stay at hotels until the house is security to our satisfaction.”

10. 2015 – EFF leader‚ Julius Malema’s Parliamentary office was burgled in July. Party spokesman Mbuyiseni Ndlozi told The Times files that were stolen contained “highly sensitive information”. “This includes [information on] whistle-blowers working for government departments and state institutions. the files have information on our strategies and on things that we were going to take the government up on‚ especially around parastatals such as Eskom. Files that contain travel and security information of the commander-in-chief [Malema] have disappeared‚” Ndlozi said at the time.